A/n: Okay, so I just started Fruits Basket, and I fell in love with it! Natsuki Takaya is amazing!!!! I'm only on Volume 7, but I've been ordering them from my local bookstore, and practically getting three a week. Anyways, I obviously haven't gotten very far, so thank goodness for Wikipedia! I just adore the two characters here... I'm such a spoiler person. Hmm, maybe I'll do my next story about Saki and Kazuma... LOL, I'm in love with the couples I haven't even been able to read about yet!:P Okay, I'd better stop rambling... Please review!

Characters are owned by Natsuki Takaya. If they were mine, I'd somehow bring Hatori to life so I could marry him.:P

Eternal Spring

Strength. That is what he needs. An oak; tall, reliable, strong, independent. Able to toughen through the strongest weather. Able to handle anything. That is what he's been blessed with, but, even he is a man. He has faults, regrets, guilt for feeling regret.

Once, he'd loved daisies. They were so light and bright, a symbol of the spring he had felt in his heart, in every inch of his soul, right through to his bones. Daisies had been smiles, sunlight, and vulnerability- giving his heart away for the very first time, feeling giddy after his first kiss, thinking about her all the time.

But daisies die so easily- winter comes, and they shy away like cowardly school girls.

He sighs. But daisies were so soft, their petals caressing his hand as he touched them. The memory even now burns through his mind, and in his pain, he reaches out for his oak.

"Are you alright?" The hand that he holds is rough with calluses; she's been grading papers again, gripping the pencil too tightly as she wonders why she does what she does. A small smile touches his lips, and he gingerly kisses her fingers. A slight flush creeps along her neck, and she ducks her head shyly, staring up at him through her bangs.

"I am now." The daisy in his mind fades like winter, and he stares down at his new start- with his oak, his rock, his saviour; the only one who understands unrequited love. The oak that had inched through the cold snow of his heart to help him face a new spring. The spring where he gave his heart away again- this time for good. If he messes up again, he'll never forget her, never love another.

Oaks are more steadfast, and, just looking into her eyes, he knows she will not give up on him without a fight.

Outside, the apple trees blossom, shrouding the house with a sweet, tangy smell. She tugs on his hand, impatient and eager to go out into the warm sunshine of spring, where she belongs. "Come on, Hatori, spring isn't going to last forever!"

Laughing for the sudden joyful revelation in his heart, he sweeps her up in a long, gratifying kiss, curling his fingers into her soft, short hair. He enjoys the feel of her heartbeat hammering against his, as loud and fast as a train. She squeaks in surprise. "What the heck's gotten into you?" The words come out in one short breath, making her appear more dazed than indignant.

Grinning, he kisses her nose, feeling her shiver agreeably, though she tries to suppress it with a glare. "Spring will last forever, Mayu."

"How's that?" She looks startled.

"You are my spring."

My eternal spring.